August 30, 2007

CSF's Horton talks to Oregon
By JANIS CARR The Orange County Register

Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton has had discussions with Oregon regarding the Ducks' baseball coaching job, a school official said Thursday.

Fullerton athletic director Brian Quinn said he gave Oregon permission to talk to Horton last Friday and believed the two sides talked Monday.

Quinn said he had not talked to Horton, "so I can't tell you what stage the talks are in or what is happening."

Horton was unavailable to return calls Thursday.

"George is always going to be on people's lists," Quinn said. "This has been going on since I've been here and I've lived with it every time. The only thing I can do as athletic director is make this the best job around."

In previous years, Horton has been contacted by Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

The Ducks are resurrecting their baseball program after 26 years, which would present Horton with the challenge of starting a program from scratch at a school that just received a $100 million gift from Nike.

Horton, 53, has little left to prove at Fullerton, where he won a national title in 2004, made six trips to the College World Series in his 11 seasons as head coach, and compiled a 490-212-1 record.

Arguably, one of Horton's biggest accomplishments came this past season when he took a lesser-talented Titans team to the College World Series after dropping 11 of its final 17 regular-season games. But given a new opportunity with an at-large berth into the playoffs, the Titans didn't drop a game en route to Omaha.

The Titans were eventually eliminated by UC Irvine, going 0 and 2 at the College World Series.